What A Beautiful Light
by Esther Cain014
Summary: Alternate ending to chapter 93. Obviously there are spoilers, if you can call them that. I changed some facts for my own personal fangirl-y reasons. Rated T only because there are some swear words. Implied KanaZero.


See bottom for AN

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He was slowly deteriorating. Kaname was gone and there was nothing strong enough to sustain him. He'd been bred on the blood of the one who could have been the very first vampire in existence. There was no going back for Zero.

He didn't know if Kaname realized what would happen to him after he'd gone, or if the bastard just didn't give a rat's ass whether he lived or died. He knew the answer personally, but that didn't stop him from thinking too deeply on it, because of course Kaname knew how dependent Zero was on his blood, on his very existence. He was loathe to admit that, but there was nothing for it: he had been well and truly addicted to everything that was Kaname.

Nobody knew of their relationship, not even Cross who always seemed to know all of Zero's secrets just by glancing into his lavender eyes. They were incredibly discreet about everything they did behind closed doors. With both of them, people were constantly watching, judging them, both positively and negatively, they couldn't afford to give away anything when they interacted outside of the bedroom. It was always hatred that Zero portrayed; in the beginning, his hatred for Kaname and all vampires was real, but it shifted to loathing for the outside world at some point. He couldn't remember anymore.

Now Zero could hate nothing but his own self-pity whenever his cravings became too powerful to overcome. They came in sporadic spurts. One moment he would be totally fine, the next he would feel the claw make its way up from his chest to the back of his throat. He could feel his eyes grow a deadly crimson, could physically feel his muscles begin to spasm.

If he was in any kind of company, they were immediately dismissed, no matter their standing. He was the President of the Hunter's Association now and he could _not_ afford to be seen in such a state by his underlings. Nor could he ever be in the presence of any living being; nothing would ever stop him if he drank another drop of blood, he would inevitably fall to a level E if he went that path, and he could not leave Yuki and the children.

So he suffered, he writhed in pain as a pastime on bad days, and played with two young vampires on good days. He ran an entire organization without too many hiccups, he strove for a peace so that the man he loved did not give his life in vein.

As his children grew older, as Sayori aged and eventually passed, as Yuki grew more powerful and beautiful each decade, Kaien Cross passed into the next life, Toga Yagari followed him not long after, and Zero weakened in agonizing slowness. Yuki ran the vampire world, Zero ran the hunter world, and together they were unaware of the plotting happening behind the scenes. Aido, Kain, and Ruka had been working almost nonstop for decades in order to achieve the means to return Kaname to his former self.

When Yuki was made privy to this knowledge, and to the close proximity that they were to completing such a daunting task, she had agreed instantly. Naturally, she rushed to tell Zero the news.

He knew that he had been closer to Kaname than Yuki had, nobody else knew that, but Zero knew that with all of his being. He understood that Kaname always possessed the heart of the human, and longed to live in the sunlight, and he thought that Yuki had understood the same. Perhaps there was some things that never did leave the bedroom. It took a while to explain to the excited Yuki that this plan would only hurt Kaname further, and when the realization set in, Zero almost felt bad for exposing such a pain fact to her. Some things also never change, she was still the sweet girl on the inside though her features and powers had matured.

It was then that the entire group from the Academy hatched the plan to revive Kaname, but this time, as a human.

It was incredibly slow-going, painful waiting for both Yuki and Zero. He didn't know how many years passed when he finally received the notice from Takuma that the research was complete and all was ready for the final stage. All Zero knew was that he was almost done. There was no way he would last more than a year or two more: he suffered from cravings and fits almost every hour.

Almost as if his body was physically counting down the days until he would breathe his last.

Another year passed without the final stage's completion and Zero was desperate, everybody could see it. Yuki wasn't as impatient and she had the taxing duty of carrying out the actual spell. After all the years of knowing and living with both Kaname and Zero, then separately, then just Zero, none of them had suspected anything, but for the last couple of months, each vampire had their own theory of what happened each time Kaname fed Zero.

It was going to happen. They had informed their children and they were prepared for the loss of their mother, they didn't tell either of the now-grown children that Zero would be gone almost immediately after. They would accompany Yuki to the exposed tomb where she would perform their last gift to Kaname. They would await the moment that his burgundy eyes would flutter open and give him Yuki's last message.

Zero was there. He waited outside the door to hear it. He had only a few moments left, but he would fight off the reaper until he heard Kaname's voice one more time.

Hours passed after Yuki fell and shattered into crystals of her former self. Zero was cold and exhausted on the floor outside his lover's tomb. He was impossibly alone and lost in desperation. His life was playing itself out in his memory and he treasured every moment of time he spent with Kaname. Only once more, just a few words to send him off, Kaname was the last thing he wanted to hear.

"Nee-san, he's awake."

His eyes fluttered open and his heart stopped. All his convulsing muscles finally relaxed and his body slumped against the wall where he sat. This is it.

"This is a message from my mother to my other father.

"'I want to give to you whom I love the world that I saw when I was human."

Tears he didn't know where left in his eyes were streaming down his face as his consciousness slowly faded. _Please_: his mouth formed the word with what little strength he possessed, subconsciously hoping Kaname would hear it.

Just once.

That was all he craved for now, just his voice.

The deep baritone that saved him all those years ago.

Please.

His surroundings faded and Zero clung desperately to the waking world. The cold that had been so deep set into his body was expanding to his every fiber…

Just one sentence. One word. A sigh.

Anything.

Please…

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AN: Too bad I have a bitching writer's block yeah? Here's what a little something I wrote trying to get out of it. Hopefully it's at least entertaining. I rather think it's terrible, but hey that's what my writer's block does. It's a bitch.

References to Linkin Park's song Iridescent: the song to which this tiny little ficlet was written. I don't own the song or Vampire Knight.


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